Release of WWII Aerial Photos

[Double Deuce]

I saw this on some other SPWAW Forums and thought I would post it here.

A huge British archive of World War II aerial reconnaissance photos, including pictures of the D-Day landings in Normandy, is to go on the Internet. Under the digitalization project, some 5 million Royal Air Force photos of Western Europe will be available to the public on the Web site www.evidenceincamera.co.uk (http://www.evidenceincamera.co.uk). The site is not up yet but should be going online in the next couple of days with a target date of tomorrow, Monday, January 19th.

In addition, The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives, known as TARA, expects later to release of 2.5 million Luftwaffe German air force reconnaissance photographs of Eastern Europe seized by the Allies at the end of the war.

If you have a craving for aerial photos you will definately want to visit and bookmark this site. Read the full story HERE (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040117/ap_on_re_eu/britain_wwii_photos).

[Don Maddox]

I heard they won't actually be posting the photos. Any word on that?

[Double Deuce]

I heard they won't actually be posting the photos. Any word on that?
Not yet. Their servers are pretty overloaded right now and most I have talked to have not been able to get on either. One time I did actually get to a screen telling me the server is very, very busy and to try again later! So far that is a far as I have gotten. There has been mention it may be a subscription service to access the photos. Hopefully we will know more soon.

[Double Deuce]

4 days and still no luck. If anyone on this board has been fortunate enough to get in please post here and satisfy our curiousity :nuts:

[Double Deuce]

I got in ! ! ! - Looks good so far but there are not many images up and available yet.

[Hogg]

It looks like bad news - it seems the site is run by the green eyed god - money.

:mad:


I quote from the site -

"It costs nothing to register with evidenceincamera.co.uk, and you are able to freely search the online TARA catalogue. Once you have made a sortie-plot search, you can purchase a low-resolution scan of your target location, and then either a digitally enhanced high-resolution scan or digitally enhanced photographic print.

For £1.50 (including VAT) each, we can supply a low-resolution scan of any photograph you identify using our online catalogue. As shown above however, there is often a 60% overlap between photographs, and to ensure you choose the best one, we recommend you purchase two before-and-after the one you think covers your target."


So, a low-res scan will cost you about $2.50 - and they reccomend you order three, to make sure you get what you want!!!!!!!!!!

It seems to get better!!

"We aim to process a low resolution scan order within two working days and will supply this imagery electronically."

Huh? It is going to take them two working days (maybe!) to make a low resolution scan, and e.mail it to you??

This seems to be a low resolution scan - the centre of copenhagen, apparently - click on file frmb3.jpg.

That will cost you $2.50, please!

You can then order either enhanced images or photos of the image you have selected - 300 dpi will cost you £17.50 ($25?) and a 5" by 5" actual photo will cost you £10 ($15).


Now, folks, I know I am miserly, but, (if I have understood this right!), this is an important historical collection that is being made available to the world. Yes, I know it costs money to make this work available, but $25 for for one photo?????

I am sorry, but I think that is disgusting and historical blackmail. These photo's are our heritage.


Drool over file mg1.jpg. This would be ideal for designing scenarios around Arnhem bridge (which it is!) - but it will cost you $25!


Am I being a skinflint, or does anyone agree - or, indeed, have I got this wrong!!!!

lol

[Resisti]

And it’s not the highest rate: if you want very high resolution scan (up to 1600 dpi), price rise up to 100pounds!!

Yes, it looks crazy…and a shame, too.

The low resolution pics, should be available online for free; then if you want the cool thing, is right that you pay.

If someone would start a petition, I’d sign in for sure.
But maybe the most powerful weapon we have, is to ignore them: they’ll realize soon or later, I hope.